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18. ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL
   
  Introduction
18.1 Environmental Appraisal of a Local Plan is a process for assessing the extent to which its policies and development proposals affect environmental resources. It can inform during policy formulation; help to choose between different policy options; and be a means to assess a plan's strategy. As land use documents, local plans are at the forefront of the wider movement to protect natural environmental resources. Environmental Appraisal is one part of the process of raising the profile of environmental considerations.
18.2 It allows an examination of the implications of policies on each environmental domain (air, water, natural habitats etc). It is more accurate if measurable targets are used, although it will often only be possible to appraise policies against general aims rather than specific targets.
18.3 Ultimately however, and for effective monitoring purposes, targets should be used as they will indicate accurately the fluctuations from the resource base and any imbalances which could necessitate a policy review.
   
  Local Plans and the Environment
18.4 Local authorities are exhorted by Government to ensure that development plans (Structure Plans and Local Plans) take account of environmental considerations in a comprehensive and consistent manner (PPG12, paragraph 4.4).
18.5 The Rio Earth Summit in 1992 highlighted international and national concerns for environmental protection and promoted the notion that future development should be 'sustainable'.
18.6 Thus development should not deplete those environmental resources which ought to be passed on to future generations.
18.7 The idea that certain environmental resources need protection from development, raises questions about how such resources should be considered and how they should be quantified.
18.8 There is still much debate about how to define representative thresholds beyond which environmental quality can be seen to change irrevocably.
18.9 Nevertheless, there is a need to integrate environmental concerns into plan preparation; to identify and protect sites and features of importance whilst providing for necessary development opportunities.
18.10 There are a number of ways that local authorities may give wider consideration to the environment and in this respect a number of changes can be seen in this draft Local Plan from earlier Local Plans in Preston.
18.11 An impact matrix appears at the end of this chapter which has environmental attributes along one axis and the plan's policies juxtaposed on the other axis. Before that, factors influencing the general approach to the environment in the plan are considered.
   
  Planning for Environmental Sustainability
18.12 To move towards sustainable development, planning's traditional general concerns with the protection of the countryside or natural habitats for example, must be broadened to include topics like water, soil, air and energy.
18.13 Much theoretical work has been undertaken suggesting relevant environmental indicators and 'carrying capacity thresholds' of those indicators, that is the extent to which the environment can tolerate human activity and development without unacceptable damage resulting.
18.14 English Nature has adopted the concept of environmental sustainability which means maintaining the environment's natural qualities and characteristics and its capacity to fulfil its full range of functions.
18.15 English Nature's recent work in this field recommends several 'tools' which may bring about the required changes to broaden planning's outlook and vocabulary. The following Table 1 demonstrates how this can be done.
18.16 The third column in the table identifies how Preston Local Plan accommodates some of the new concepts. Key note policies state the plan's adopted approach, highlighting the importance of significant factors. The plan has safeguard policies and for the first time promotes a compensation principle when it is not possible to retain certain environmental features (see rows 2 and 3 in the table).
18.17 Aspects of the environment which it is critical to maintain at the local level are identified in policy DC4; this is Preston's 'Critical Environmental Capital'. The City's only Sites of Special Scientific Interest (the Red Scar and Tunbrook Woods) and the Ribble Estuary are in this category. Such habitats could not be recreated within a lifetime and these are the resources which should be passed on to future generations. There are often areas of amenity importance which, because of their value to the local community, may be identified in this category: local consultation will be important in this respect.
18.18 The second aspect of the City's environmental resources, concern those habitats which are not critical in themselves, but which together form a larger asset of habitats which should be passed on to future generations. These are Preston's 'Constant Environmental Assets', and are identified in policy DC7 (see row 5 in the table).
   
Table 1: Moving Towards Planning for Environmental Sustainability
TOOL WHEN/WHERE TO USE IT REFERENCE IN PRESTON LOCAL PLAN
KEY NOTE POLICY At the beginning of the development plan Section 3, ‘The Plan Strategy - Improving Environmental Quality; Protecting the Natural Environment; Developer Responsibilities.
SITE SAFEGUARD POLICY In the development plan Policy DC5
COMPENSATION POLICY In the development plan Policy DC7, Policy DR1
MATRIX OF ACTIVITIES -V- ATTRIBUTES Issue identification Earlier preparatory work leading to this document.
SCHEDULE OF CRITICAL NATURE CAPITAL/CONSTANT NATURAL ASSETS In a State of The Environment report, or development plan Policy DC5
Policy DC7
INDICATORS

In a State of The Environment report, Environmental Strategy/Local Agenda 21/development plan

  • to assess the environment and impacts upon it
  • to specify targets
  • to monitor conditions, change, performance and activity levels
 Are included as further definition of the general environmental stock criteria.
TARGETS Environmental Strategy/Local Agenda 21/development plan Not yet developed.
ENVIRONMENTAL APPRAISAL At several stages in the development plan process Section 18
CHECKLISTS In development control  
Source: English Nature: Sustainability in Practice - Issue 1 - June 1994 (adapted by a change to column 3).
   
  Environmental Appraisal: Method
18.29 By implementing at local level the measures outlined in Table 1, the protection of environmental resources will be promoted.
18.30 The actual process of assessing how resources may be affected by a plan's proposals is by a policy impact matrix: the 'environmental stock' listed along one axis with the plan policies set out along the other.
18.31 The environmental stock are further explained in Table 2 by the indicators of positive impact. These criteria are detailed enough to allow an assessment of a policy's probable impact on the resource.
18.32 The range of stock to be included has been adapted from the Department of the Environment's good practice guide (Environmental Appraisal of Development Plans; 1993) and from the Lancashire Structure Plan's environmental appraisal.
18.33 The policies are considered against each indicator and the predicted impact is recorded by a symbol.
18.34 The indicators can be developed over time to include standards or targets. However, in the absence of targets it is assumed that environmental attributes are satisfactory at present levels.
18.35 The fact that this appraisal exercise has been carried out for the Local Plan will not remove the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of specific projects and/or planning applications: the relevant legislation still applies to these projects. EIA's are submitted by applicants to assist local authority decision making.
18.36 Those policies considered to have an adverse impact on the environment stock are addressed in the concluding section after the matrix.
   
  Key to Tables:
 
Symbol Description
No relationship or no significant impact
Significant adverse impact
Significant beneficial impact
Possible beneficial impact
Unpredictable impact
Table 2: Environmental Impact Indicators
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Environmental Appraisal - Conclusions
18.244 Those policies where an adverse environmental impact has been identified, are:
  DS1
DS2
T4
T5
H1
W1
CLF1
SS31
SS36
 Housing Allocations
Whittingham Hospital
Highway Improvements - Broughton Bypass
Highway Improvements - Distributor Roads
Housing Development outside Allocated Areas
Provision for New Business and Industrial development
Large Scale Leisure Facilities
Riversway Phase B
Cottam Hall Brickworks
   
  Policies T4 and T5
18.245 National guidance has recently promoted a policy shift towards alternative transport modes (PPG13) and at the same time seeks to reduce demands for trip generation. Such a stance may run contrary to existing policies and create problems in implementation because of the physical character of existing land uses.
18.246 For instance, at face value, the re-use of redundant hospitals in open countryside remains acceptable in policy terms rather than sites becoming derelict: but it may not always be possible to serve these sites other than by road - the rural public transport network is not as extensive as it once was.
18.247 In the absence of any significant rail investment, roads will still play a major part in the communication network. The numbers of cars are not likely to be significantly reduced in the short term and to increase alternative modes of transport; they must be attractive, convenient and safe. Not all roads have a satisfactory existing capacity, and to do nothing to improve them would be unlikely to assist the long-term desired shift in transport modes.
18.248 These first two policies are acknowledged to have an environmental impact in relation to the above issues. However, they seek to resolve other problems arising through past circumstances and policies. In this context therefore, the policies are considered to be justified.
   
  Policies DS1, DS2 and H1
18.249 New proposed housing allocations and other development opportunities are not likely to reduce the number of motorised trips. However, further residential development is always likely to bring this disbenefit until society's attitudes to transport have changed and an efficient public transport system offers an alternative. Opportunities have been created for alternative modes of transport (reference Whittingham Hospital development) and other benefits also accrue (see impact matrix).
18.250 Similarly, development will deplete mineral resources until alternative materials are able to substitute for them.
   
  Policy DS2
18.251 Although a mixed development is proposed at this site, there will be traffic generation disbenefits which is why the scheme is linked to road improvements at Broughton.
18.252 The utilisation of this redundant complex prevents site dereliction and maintains its amenities. In doing so it provides for a level of growth which would otherwise be displaced to greenfield sites since the urban area could not cope with such a quantity without squeezing important urban open spaces resulting in town cramming.
18.253 An additional locational advantage of Whittingham Hospital is that it is relatively close to the large Red Scar/Roman Way/Rough Hey Road employment area (the largest employment area in the City). The stipulation that the southern hospital access should only be for non-vehicular use, links cyclists with job opportunities only 3km distant. The mixed use concept on the site itself also encourages energy-efficient trip behaviour.
18.254 Other beneficial impacts from hospital redevelopment are noted on the impact matrix, including increased tree cover; safeguarding land and landscape quality; protecting wildlife habitats; maintaining public access and leisure uses.
   
  Policy W1
  18.255 Again mineral consumption is a part of commercial development, especially in the construction of roads and buildings. The fact that a negative indicator is registered here is not considered sufficient on its own to warrant a reassessment of this policy.
   
  Policy CLF1
18.256 By their nature large-scale leisure facilities are likely to adversely affect landscape quality or sites with wildlife potential (though this is not likely to be those designated nature sites in policy R5). Any such proposals will need to be carefully considered in terms of costs and benefits. Environmental Impact Assessment may be the appropriate mechanism for assessing such projects.
   
  Policy SS31
18.257 Advocates the use of open land which because of its length of time in this condition has been colonised by plant and animal life. Its development has disbenefits in the loss of such a resource; however there is no special status to this land which might outweigh the requirements for its proposed development to meet other plan objectives.
   
  Policy SS36
18.258 This policy, allowing the principle of development on the site, shows environmental disbenefits because over time, the site has been colonised by plant and animal life which gives the site Biological Heritage Status. Discussions with Lancashire Wildlife Trust have however, indicated the acceptance in principle of allowing some development whilst at the same time permitting the remaining land to be retained as a natural resource.
   
 
   
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